The Kid Is Alright
by PolandSpringz
Summary: Originally posted on my tumblr, this is an introspective story from All Might's point of view on his concerns now that Izuku has inherited his power. Contains the original text and the revised version which changes the scenery and some of All Might's thoughts but other than that its all the same.
1. Original

The kid was so small when he was sleeping.

Certainly, everyone was small when All Might was, well, All Might, but even in his true, emaciated self, half dead and withered away by injury, the kid was still pretty damn small.

Not that there was anything wrong with that. Why, of course there were heroes with quirks that made them small just as Mount Lady grew to the size of a skyscraper, one could easily possess such a gene that would allow them to become little. Even then, there were heroes who were small by nature or height, but this kid, he was more than small, perhaps fragile even. No, he wouldn't go that far. For, underneath those clothes laid packed muscle feverishly coined from days and months without end of training. The boy was anything but fragile.

All Might didn't know why he was dwelling on this characteristic so much.

The kid had passed out. Exhausted himself, the poor thing. Even after cleaning the beach and getting approved to attend U.A., speaking of which, which was due solely to pure luck and his reckless nature given the mislabeled guise of heroism charming that girl, the boy continued to train. It had been about a month since school had begun at U.A. and he still could be find after dark at the beach. He kept at it, even if there was no one there. Ashamed of himself, the hero had to admit that he had doubted the boy at first, hesitant to hand off his power because of the fact that the boy might only be working hard because he was there. Of course, that didn't mean he didn't believe that Midoriya had charged into that street of flames to save his friend without thinking at all, he knew for certain that the boy was strong and compassionate enough in that regard to have the makings of a hero. What worried him was what he was doing this for. Would his morale decrease without All Might constantly being there, giving him special treatment? Would his fear overtake his adrenaline spawned from seeing his idol?

These thoughts plagued the man as he stood, mere feet away from the sleeping boy. A sudden inconceivable pressure landed on his shoulders, pulling on his neck heavily. It weighed more than the duty he had carried for years, it was more straining in all regards of emotional and mental strength that came with the promise to be a hero. He was the boy's favorite hero after all, at least, the based upon how the boy nearly fainted upon meeting him. _Well,_ All Might interrupted his own thoughts once more, _he had already fainted by the time I got there from near suffocation, but that's beside the point._ That hero journal he had cultivated, cluttered with smeared ink pouring from every inch of the margins. Each word, each bullet point detailed something about a hero, they were scattered throughout the book. Eraserhead and Midnight popped up a few times, having very vast appearances chronologically, once at the front and then towards the more recent end notes. But All Might, All Might was given whole sections, broken into ten pages at the very least, starting and ending with a red, white, or blue page tab, varying each time. His pages were given full detailed illustrations, diagrams were drawn, there were x's and check marks next to questions and speculations and theories. His entire career, attack names and abilities, his accomplishments, every rescue he ever performed. Some went as far back as to when he stopped mere robberies or late night muggings he happened to come across. Every page for his was dated, the boy not only kept a timeline of his history but the history in which he came across the new information.

All Might smiled upon the old, withered, and slightly charred pages talking in scribbled writing about how amazing he was, some of his old attacks he was in too poor of shape to perform now. All Might could practically hear the boy's overexcited chirping voice shouting with a gleeful grin about how great he was just from seeing the dedication.

But it faltered upon the more recent pages.

Some of the sections starting from when the boy had been taken under the man's wing were worrying. They talked about his weaknesses, his diminishing strength, how he was losing time when it came to how long he could hold his transformation. No longer were there little sticky notes hastily slapped into the book with sentences following the words, "EDIT!" or "UPDATE". Instead, All Might was left to stare into neatened pages of textbook print writing that detailed his ailing health, his margin theories and thought bubbles were replaced with sentences shrunk down in between parentheses saying things like, "I hope he's eating enough", "I'm scared I won't be able to live up to his expectations in time", "He was going to choose someone stronger, someone already having a quirk," and, "It hurts me to see him be so weak because of me."

"It hurts me to see that I'm killing him."

Back when All Might had first met the boy, he had got the sense that a mere autograph wasn't enough. That feeling followed him and continued to nag at him, even after he had given Midoriya his power. Despite being born quirkless like him, the boy had never wanted All Might's power. Certainly, one could argue he wanted to meet All Might, to be like him and be a hero akin to him, but as the days passed and as the countdown for the famous hero got shorter and shorter, he became all the more increasingly aware of the fact that he had crushed the boy's true wish, destroyed it by giving him anything any other boy or girl of his caliber in terms of idolization could desire.

The boy wanted to be with him. Alongside him forever, perhaps even fight crime hand in hand with him. All Might tried to smile as he thought of the beaming smile the freckled boy might give him if they were given a chance by the hands of time to be independent from the school and work together on a mission side by side. Instead, he tried not to dwell to long on that depressing factor. He chose to focus on the positives. He thought back to those analytical weakness the boy had wrote about, what villains that had caused a large scuffle due to strength or rivalling quirks. At the very least, it made him smile to see that the boy had enough sense now to view him with more humility. It allowed him to lower himself to a more realistic level, the boy seeing him as a person, his eyes still sparkling, but the glint in them different than the oblivious citizens and students he served and taught. The weakness from the beginning of their time together concerned battle weakness and tactics that the villains could have used as "what-if" scenarios based on prior evidence and videos of old fights the boy had no doubt memorized by heart by now.

The disturbing reality was dropped on All Might as he was brought to face the fact that if someone on the other side of justice managed to get ahold of Midoriya's notebook, the results would be disastrous. The man might really die earlier than anticipated and suddenly, giving no comfort to the boy. Would he be left in ruin with such a crumbling death, would it twist him and turn him to the bad side? Would the boy be strong enough to overcome it? Would the school and his friends be able to guide him enough to keep him calm and grounded? All Might couldn't tell the boy to burn the book, that would break his heart, and the boy was fragile enough- no, wait, All Might had already told assured himself that he wasn't fragile so why was it that-

Ah.

The boy was snoring.

All Might was yanked hard from the depths of his mind into the present, his worries being tossed aside like ocean waves falling after coming in contact with his unfaltering form. He froze as he stared with his jaw clenched tightly, the boy was still asleep, his small figure almost a mere shadow against the setting sun backdrop. He was dressed lightly, a white muscle tank, that in all honestly the name itself sounded ridiculous when associated with the boy, and a simple black cargo pants he had been using to train in. On his side, he had pulled his knees against his chest, and his hands were bunched in tiny little fists underneath his chin, which he had tucked against his collarbone. Truly the epitome of the fetal position, All Might chuckled at this notion.

The hero stepped along the beach, crossing the short distance between the two of them, morphing into his more commonly seen form of muscle and power. He patted the boy's shoulder, shaking him slightly, receiving a groggy moan in return as the boy pulled in closer to himself. A few minutes later, All Might sighed and scooped the boy into his arms before tossing him over his shoulder rather unceremoniously. He had caved.

The home of the boy wasn't too far away, at least according to All Might's contact information given on his teacher emergency resource sheet. The beach happened to sit a few blocks away from the boy's house, allowing All Might to maintain his hero façade as he paraded through the empty streets. A few birds squawked at him, but no people were out at this time, too busy at home feeding their families the last bits of dinner,

 _Must be nice to have a family,_ All Might mused as he continued down the street, one had keeping Midoriya from sliding off his shoulder and slamming face first into the pavement, the other holding the map that showed Midoriya's house. Within a few more minutes, the man was there. He debated about sneaking the boy in through the window, but he couldn't guarantee that it be open, nor was the boy's favorite hero about to stoop so low as to use the most juvenile and possibly the least threatening form of breaking and entering to tuck the boy in. With a soft sigh, the man lightly knocked on the door, briefly deciding that his current form was more trusting than an unknown and half-starved appearing man would dropping off some poor woman's son.

He could faintly hear a door open and close and feet pad hurriedly across the floor of the home, growing louder as they stepped near the entrance. There was the sound of a lock clicking undone, and then a chain being removed before a the knob rotated and a small hand revealed itself in the opening crack between the door and its frame.

"Izuku? Did you forget your key again? You're home so late too, dinner's been-ah...A-a-ahhh..." Behind the door revealed a short and gentle woman, her face and stature radiating the reality of what a mother should look like. At first, her eyes were closed in slight irritation, but they grew wide as they traced up the frame of the grinning hero before her.

"ALL MIGHT-!"

"Shh!" The man jumped and placed a hand over her mouth, and it took a moment for the woman to collect herself before they both nodded their heads in understanding. The boy's mother backed up when All Might's hand fell and she opened the door wider, he waving hand the only indication that he should enter. Once passed the threshold and the door was locked, the woman ushered the man to near Midoriya's bedroom, offering to take him from the man to settle into bed. No words were exchanged just yet, the hero only shook his head at the offer, intending to lay the boy down himself, but his mother tried again, her brow furrowing slightly as she reached up on her toes, wiggling her fingers as she grasped Midoriya's hips and tugged him off of his idol.

All Might watched as the woman staggered over to the bed and flopped her son down onto it, untying and pulling off his sneakers before she yanked the blanket over his small form. She brushed his hair back with a sweet smile before folding her hands in front of her and turning back to All Might. The man was losing his ability, he was deflating, and he knew he couldn't stay for long.

"Thank you." She said, now finding her voice, but her eyes still glanced at the floor uncertainly, "He's always looked up to you, and when we found out he didn't have a quirk, he was absolutely broken. I had no idea how to fix any of it, what to say or what to do, but suddenly, he meets you, and what years I couldn't fix, is cured by you."

"It was nothing. Izuku is a wonderful student, and it's quite an honor to teach him."

"Oh really?" She laughed lightly, "If only he was awake to hear that, I'm sure he'd weep tears of joy. I don't know if you've noticed, but the All Might figurines around the room might be an indication of how much he respects you. It might seem a little creepy, but I can promise you it's all honest-to-goodness respect."

It took him a moment to swallow the lump forming in his throat, "It's quite alright, Mrs. Midoriya, I understand how young boys are, I was once one myself."

"Yes, but Izuku's an especially late bloomer. I worry about him sometimes. He tries to hide it from me, but I saw what his quirk did to his poor hand during the sports festival. Sometimes I wish he wasn't a hero, but then I try to imagine this room without the figurines, and I realize it wouldn't be Izuku without that devotional aspect to him." She pressed one hand to her cheek and tilted her head, a cheery smile landing on her face. There was a moment of silence amongst the two, each brandishing their own thoughts floating above the boy.

"Well, I shouldn't keep you, but I really wish there was some way to thank you for doing everything thus far. I know it sounds strange, as you probably have no idea what half of what I'm saying even means, but if you wouldn't here, I don't know what would have happened to Izuku."

The two had shuffled out to the entranceway once more, Izuku's mother talking as they made quick steps all the way. All Might paused in front of the door, listening to her words of farewell, letting them sink in. The weight, it was still there, but it felt lighter, no heavier, but in a strange way. At the same time, his burden was lifting, but it seemed to come forth with something new, something different to carry. All Might creaked the door open, turned to woman as the glow of the twilight dripped into the home as he made a fist with his thumb raised, beaming back at her.

"Izuku's a fine boy. He'll pull through, no matter what the situation. You raised him that way, my job is to only help nourish that already existing fact."

"Oh...Ah. Thank you..." She finished as he walked out, and in the light of the setting sun, faint streams of water could be seen tracing the skin of her face, "Goodnight..." She tried to call out, through her breaking voice as the door shut.

Just as before, All Might walked down the street, this time he had been resigned to walk the path of a common man, his sickly-self wobbled with every step down the path. As night fell, he paused to stare into the sky, casting a wish of his own.

 _Please, let him turn out just fine. I know he can turn out just fine._


	2. Revision

The kid was so small when he was sleeping.

Certainly, everyone was small when All Might was, well, All Might, but even in his true, emaciated self, half dead and withered away by injury, the kid was still pretty damn small.

Not that there was anything wrong with that. Why, of course there were heroes with quirks that made them small just as Mount Lady grew to the size of a skyscraper, one could easily possess such a gene that would allow them to become little. Even then, there were heroes who were small by nature or height, but this kid, he was more than small, perhaps fragile even. No, he wouldn't go that far. For, underneath those clothes laid packed muscle feverishly coined from days and months without end of training. The boy was anything but fragile.

All Might didn't know why he was dwelling on this characteristic so much.

The kid had passed out. Exhausted himself, the poor thing. Even after cleaning the beach and getting approved to attend U.A., speaking of which, which was due solely to pure luck and his reckless nature given the mislabeled guise of heroism charming that girl, the boy continued to train. It had been about a month since school had begun at U.A. and he still could be seen after dark, only this time, he had traded his beach time cleanup to extensive training at the school. The facilities at U.A. were top of the line, it only was plausible that the students would have free access to them, but if anyone wore the treadmills into the ground, it was Midoriya. He kept at it, even if there was no one there. Ashamed of himself, the hero had to admit that he had doubted the boy at first, hesitant to hand off his power because of the fact that the boy might only be working hard because he was there. Of course, that didn't mean he didn't believe that Midoriya had charged into that street of flames to save his friend without thinking at all, he knew for certain that the boy was strong and compassionate enough in that regard to have the makings of a hero. What worried him was what he was doing this for. Would his morale decrease without All Might constantly being there, giving him special treatment? Would his fear overtake his adrenaline spawned from seeing his idol?

These thoughts plagued the man as he stood, mere feet away from the sleeping boy. A sudden inconceivable pressure landed on his shoulders, pulling on his neck heavily. It weighed more than the duty he had carried for years, it was more straining in all regards of emotional and mental strength that came with the promise to be a hero. He was the boy's favorite hero after all, at least, the based upon how the boy nearly fainted upon meeting him. _Well,_ All Might interrupted his own thoughts once more, _he had already fainted by the time I got there from near suffocation, but that's beside the point._ That hero journal he had cultivated, cluttered with smeared ink pouring from every inch of the margins. Each word, each bullet point detailed something about a hero, they were scattered throughout the book. Eraserhead and Midnight popped up a few times, having very vast appearances chronologically, once at the front and then towards the more recent end notes. But All Might, All Might was given whole sections, broken into ten pages at the very least, starting and ending with a red, white, or blue page tab, varying each time. His pages were given full detailed illustrations, diagrams were drawn, there were x's and check marks next to questions and speculations and theories. His entire career, attack names and abilities, his accomplishments, every rescue he ever performed. Some went as far back as to when he stopped mere robberies or late night muggings he happened to come across. Every page for his was dated, the boy not only kept a timeline of his history but the history in which he came across the new information.

All Might smiled upon the old, withered, and slightly charred pages talking in scribbled writing about how amazing he was, some of his old attacks he was in too poor of shape to perform now. All Might could practically hear the boy's overexcited chirping voice shouting with a gleeful grin about how great he was just from seeing the dedication.

But it faltered upon the more recent pages.

Some of the sections starting from when the boy had been taken under the man's wing were worrying. They talked about his weaknesses, his diminishing strength, how he was losing time when it came to how long he could hold his transformation. No longer were there little sticky notes hastily slapped into the book with sentences following the words, "EDIT!" or "UPDATE". Instead, All Might was left to stare into neatened pages of textbook print writing that detailed his ailing health, his margin theories and thought bubbles were replaced with sentences shrunk down in between parentheses saying things like, "I hope he's eating enough", "I'm scared I won't be able to live up to his expectations in time", "He was going to choose someone stronger, someone already having a quirk," and, "It hurts me to see him be so weak because of me."

"It hurts me to see that I'm killing him."

Back when All Might had first met the boy, he had got the sense that a mere autograph wasn't enough. That feeling followed him and continued to nag at him, even after he had given Midoriya his power. Despite being born quirkless like him, the boy had never wanted All Might's power. Certainly, one could argue he wanted to meet All Might, to be like him and be a hero akin to him, but as the days passed and as the countdown for the famous hero got shorter and shorter, he became all the more increasingly aware of the fact that he had crushed the boy's true wish, destroyed it by giving him anything any other boy or girl of his caliber in terms of idolization could desire.

The boy wanted to be with him. Alongside him forever, perhaps even fight crime hand in hand with him. All Might tried to smile as he thought of the beaming smile the freckled boy might give him if they were given a chance by the hands of time to be independent from the school and work together on a mission side by side. Instead, he tried not to dwell to long on that depressing factor. He chose to focus on the positives. He thought back to those analytical weakness the boy had wrote about, what villains that had caused a large scuffle due to strength or rivalling quirks. At the very least, it made him smile to see that the boy had enough sense now to view him with more humility. It allowed him to lower himself to a more realistic level, the boy seeing him as a person, his eyes still sparkling, but the glint in them different than the oblivious citizens and students he served and taught. The weakness from the beginning of their time together concerned battle weakness and tactics that the villains could have used as "what-if" scenarios based on prior evidence and videos of old fights the boy had no doubt memorized by heart by now.

The disturbing reality was dropped on All Might as he was brought to face the fact that if someone on the other side of justice managed to get a hold of Midoriya's notebook, the results would be disastrous. The man might really die earlier than anticipated and suddenly, giving no comfort to the boy. Would he be left in ruin with such a crumbling death, would it twist him and turn him to the bad side? Would the boy be strong enough to overcome it? Would the school and his friends be able to guide him enough to keep him calm and grounded? All Might couldn't tell the boy to burn the book, that would break his heart, and the boy was fragile enough- no, wait, All Might had already told assured himself that he wasn't fragile so why was it that-

Ah.

The boy was snoring.

All Might was yanked hard from the depths of his mind into the present, his worries being tossed aside like ocean waves falling after coming in contact with his unfaltering form. He froze as he stared with his jaw clenched tightly, the boy was still asleep, his small figure almost a mere shadow against the setting sun that poured in through the large glass window of the school's weight room. He was dressed lightly, a white muscle tank, that in all honestly the name itself sounded ridiculous when associated with the boy, and the pants that came with his U.A. gym uniform. On his side, he had pulled his knees against his chest, and his hands were bunched in tiny little fists underneath his chin, which he had tucked against his collarbone. Truly the epitome of the fetal position, All Might chuckled at this notion.

The hero stepped along the cushioned floor of the room, his feet sinking into the light padding with each step. He crossed the short distance between the two of them, morphing into his more commonly seen form of muscle and power. He patted the boy's shoulder, shaking him slightly, receiving a groggy moan in return as the boy pulled in closer to himself. A few minutes later, All Might sighed and scooped the boy into his arms before tossing him over his shoulder rather unceremoniously. He had caved.

The home of the boy wasn't too far away when compared to the other students who were in his class. At least according to All Might's contact information given on his teacher emergency resource sheet, the school happened to sit only few miles away from the boy's house, allowing All Might to maintain his hero façade as he paraded through the empty streets with long strides and leaps through the air. A few birds squawked at him, but no people were out at this time, too busy at home feeding their families the last bits of dinner.

 _Must be nice to have a family,_ All Might mused as he continued down the street, one hand keeping Midoriya from sliding off his shoulder and slamming face first into the pavement, the other holding the map that showed Midoriya's house. Within a few more minutes, the man was there. He debated about sneaking the boy in through the window, but he couldn't guarantee that it would be open, nor was the boy's favorite hero about to stoop so low as to use the most juvenile and possibly the least threatening form of breaking and entering to tuck the boy in. With a soft sigh, the man lightly knocked on the door, briefly deciding that his current form was more trusting than an unknown and half-starved appearing man would dropping off some poor woman's son.

He could faintly hear a door open and close and feet pad hurriedly across the floor of the home, growing louder as they stepped near the entrance. There was the sound of a lock clicking undone, and then a chain being removed before a the knob rotated and a small hand revealed itself in the opening crack between the door and its frame.

"Izuku? Did you forget your key again? You're home so late too, dinner's been-ah...A-a-ahhh..." Behind the door revealed a short and gentle woman, her face and stature radiating the reality of what a mother should look like. At first, her eyes were closed in slight irritation, but they grew wide as they traced up the frame of the grinning hero before her.

"ALL MIGHT-!"

"Shh!" The man jumped and placed a hand over her mouth, and it took a moment for the woman to collect herself before they both nodded their heads in understanding. The boy's mother backed up when All Might's hand fell and she opened the door wider, he waving hand the only indication that he should enter. Once passed the threshold and the door was locked, the woman ushered the man to near Midoriya's bedroom, offering to take him from the man to settle into bed. No words were exchanged just yet, the hero only shook his head at the offer, intending to lay the boy down himself, but his mother tried again, her brow furrowing slightly as she reached up on her toes, wiggling her fingers as she grasped Midoriya's hips and tugged him off of his idol.

All Might watched as the woman staggered over to the bed and flopped her son down onto it, untying and pulling off his sneakers before she yanked the blanket over his small form. She brushed his hair back with a sweet smile before folding her hands in front of her and turning back to All Might. The man was losing his ability, he was deflating, and he knew he couldn't stay for long.

"Thank you." She said, now finding her voice, but her eyes still glanced at the floor uncertainly, "He's always looked up to you, and when we found out he didn't have a quirk, he was absolutely broken. I had no idea how to fix any of it, what to say or what to do, but suddenly, he meets you, and what years I couldn't fix, is cured by you."

"It was nothing. Izuku is a wonderful student, and it's quite an honor to teach him."

"Oh really?" She laughed lightly, "If only he was awake to hear that, I'm sure he'd weep tears of joy. I don't know if you've noticed, but the All Might figurines around the room might be an indication of how much he respects you. It might seem a little creepy, but I can promise you it's all honest-to-goodness respect."

It took him a moment to swallow the lump forming in his throat, "It's quite alright, Mrs. Midoriya, I understand how young boys are, I was once one myself."

"Yes, but Izuku's an especially late bloomer. I worry about him sometimes. He tries to hide it from me, but I saw what his quirk did to his poor hand during the sports festival. Sometimes I wish he wasn't a hero, but then I try to imagine this room without the figurines, and I realize it wouldn't be Izuku without that devotional aspect to him." She pressed one hand to her cheek and tilted her head, a cheery smile landing on her face. There was a moment of silence amongst the two, each brandishing their own thoughts floating above the boy.

"Well, I shouldn't keep you, but I really wish there was some way to thank you for doing everything thus far. I know it sounds strange, as you probably have no idea what half of what I'm saying even means, but if you wouldn't here, I don't know what would have happened to Izuku."

The two had shuffled out to the entranceway once more, Izuku's mother talking as they made quick steps all the way. All Might paused in front of the door, listening to her words of farewell, letting them sink in. The weight, it was still there, but it felt lighter, no heavier, but in a strange way. At the same time, his burden was lifting, but it seemed to come forth with something new, something different to carry. All Might creaked the door open, turned to woman as the glow of the twilight dripped into the home as he made a fist with his thumb raised, beaming back at her.

"Izuku's a fine boy. He'll pull through, no matter what the situation. You raised him that way, my job is to only help nourish that already existing fact."

"Oh...Ah. Thank you..." She finished as he walked out, and in the light of the setting sun, faint streams of water could be seen tracing the skin of her face, "Goodnight..." She tried to call out, through her breaking voice as the door shut.

Just as before, All Might walked down the street, this time he had been resigned to walk the path of a common man, his sickly-self wobbled with every step down the path. As night fell, he paused to stare into the sky, casting a wish of his own.

 _Please, let him turn out just fine. I know he can turn out just fine._


End file.
